Beagles

[drivin*me*buggy]

Our family is thinking about adding a beagle to the family in the next few months. Hubby would love to chase some rabbits with one as well as we think they are beautiful dogs and would make a nice addition to our house. Any experience?

Angie

 

[krissy3]

My sister had one named Ruben...noisy little thing. They finally had to have him de -barked because they got too many complaints. I think he lacked training though, but other than that he was a sweet little dog with a great personality.

 

[Charley]

I've been told that hunting beagles are not kept in the home as it "ruins their nose" i.e. sense of smell. The better hunting dogs are kept outside in runs. I'm not sure if it is true or not. We didn't use ours as hunting dogs.

And to me there is nothing cuter than a beagle. Everyone that we have known has been a character. They do like to track and do wander, it is just in their nature. They are intelligent and can melt your heart with their eyes.

Females are prone to gaining a lot of weight after being spayed. It is best to measure their food and watch their weight. We didnt' have weight problems with the males as they tended to run the weight off. They are diggers, ours would dig for nuts buried by squirrels or under the fence so she could get out and wander.

 

[Tammie]

A few years ago my daughter brought home a stray beagle that she had found wandering the streets out near where we live. She was a very sweet natured girl and was obviously well taken care of and a house pet as she was housebroken. She did however like to bark and a beagles bark is like none other. More like a howl. Fortunately we had a fenced yard so that was not an issue either as once she got on a scent she would just take off. So I do think a fenced yard would be a must.

Sadly no one claimed "Lily" so she became part of our family but unfortunately on 2 occasions she grabbed and shook one of my chihuahua's fortunately I was present on both occasions or my liitle chihuhua would have been dead. So I don't think I would ever trust a beagle with a smaller dog due to their hunting instincts. However, in her defense I did not raise this dog from a puppy and she may have never been around smaller dogs and just associated them with rabbits or whatever. I do think it all comes down to training.

No happy ending here though because after the attacks on my chihuahua we had to make her an outside dog. Even though we have a very large fenced yard she was very unhappy being contained to it without being allowed in the house and she would bark/howl all the time. One day she dug herself out of the yard and was gone. We looked and looked for her but we never found her.

This is my only experience with beagles and since she was an adult already when she came to live with us I would not say that raising a beagle myself from a puppy would have the same results -- other than the bark (can't change that)

Good Luck!!

 

[jleonard]

We have a full Beagle and a Pappillon/ Beagle cross, and my parents had a Dachsund/ Beagle cross when I was little, all have been great dogs.

Our Beagle wandered in one day durring a storm when she was about a year old. For the first few weeks she would go off and hunt all day and show up back at our door at night. After a while we realized that she must not belong to anyone so we started feeding her, took her to the vet and got her vacinated (she had been spayed), and began locking her in the garage at night. Every day for years we would let her out in the morning and she would meet up with a pack of about five dogs and they would go hunt all day and then come home at night. On a couple of occasions she chased fox through our back field, and she took care of our neighbor's groundhog problem. She loved going around to all of the construction sites for the houses that were being built around us and hanging out with the workers. Our neighbor once saw a man with a bunch of cages in the back of his truck try to pick her up (durring hunting season), but Sadie ran to the neighbor's car when she called her. We think that she was a hunting dog that someone abandoned. One day she came home with a broken tail, no idea how she did it, but it was very sensitive. A woman came to the door soon after and claimed that Sadie had snapped at her child. She said that the dog went in everyone's house, what I would like to know is why everyone lets a strange dog into their houses?

We are sure that the child probably pulled her broken tail, as the dog has never given any indication that she wants to bite. After that we had to put up an underground fence to keep her in. It was sad to watch her go from pure muscle to a blob of fat, but she is perfectly content to lay on my grandmother's couch eating all day

The Papeagle we is about a year and a half old, we bought her as a puppy for my grandmother. She looks like a miniature beagle, and inherited the beagle nose and hunting instinct. Saddie has enjoyed teaching Poppy to hunt mice and moles in the yard. Neither of them are barkers. Saddie I think was taught not to bark, but she will whine in greeting. The only time she barks is in the garage at night if she hears a noise. Neither of them are violent with small animals, they both love the cats (Poppy is about the size of a cat). They are fun dogs, and I love love love that beagle head cock, it melts my heart every time

 

[Reijel's Mom]

They are awfully good little escape artists!

We don't get very many small dogs in at our rescue, but when we do they are typically beagles or terriers. There are a lot of them that end up needing to be rehomed as people buy them for their cute looks and don't do their research - so good for you for doing your research 1st!

 

[SammyL]

I added a female beagle puppy to our family about five months ago.

She is a beautiful, melt your heart dog. My soul dog.

From my experience, my Annie is very intelligent. I began training as soon as she was comfortable at our home. At eight months old, she knows all her basics, voice and hand commands. She also knows little tricks, "Paw", "Hug"...

She is vocal but not overly, but my family doesn't mind the occasional barking/howling. She thinks she is the protector of our house. Generally just barks when she thinks there is something worth barking at.

She does love to wander...and follows her nose in every way. The only problem I have with Annie is her recall. She has the tendency to not come when called. But we are working on it together. And we are doing whistle training as a new way of recall. She is responding well. And getting better everyday.

Beagles are notorious for being slow in housebreaking. Annie was no exception. It took her about three to four months to get it down pat. Just be patient and it will come, if you decide have the beagle in the house.

Also, I read somewhere that Beagles do not have a trigger in their brain that says, "I'm full." Hence they can gain weight easily.

They shed, but they don't drool. They can be stubborn too! Introduce them to cats and small animals early...if you do that with the correct training, I believe they can live together peacefully.

And in Annie's case, a tired Beagle is a happy Beagle!

But for the most part, at least in my Annie's case, she is willing to please, and wants to be with her family all the time. She has an independent streak. But overall, one of the best dogs I have ever had.

Good luck in your search and decision!

 

[Katiean]

We had a beagle when I was a kid. It was the same time my dad had the coon hounds. After he had done some training on the dogs we got distemper in the dogs. He lost all but pokey (the beagle) and Sadie (the redbone). Pokey was kept in the house because she got so ill. Then one day she went into convulsions. At first they were every couple of hours. Then it was about every 15 min. Actually she didn't quite come all the way out of one before she would start another when we had to have her put down. She was a very sweet dog. We haven't had another one since.

 

[HSF Rebel Yell]

Some friends of mine have beagles, they keep theirs in the house and have had no problem with the sence of smell. Their two dogs they have are friendly but love to run rabbits. But they will be loud when they want to go out or think someone is there.

If we did not have the dogs we do now I would like to get one.

 

[drivin*me*buggy]

Thanks everyone,

She would def. be a house dog and a buddy to my lab. We have lots of dog training experience w/ labs and chessies, so we ill just have to be extra patient w/ her ( when we find the right pup).

 

[miniwhinny]

I've never owned one but know families who have them. They're very smart, fun loving, great dogs. But be careful...if they get out and catch a scent there's almost nothing that you can do to stop them...and oh that bugle lol

 

[wcr]

You might contact Jon and Wade at Lucky Four Farm. Jon is into the beagles and had one of his dogs win best of show at Westminster dog show a couple of years ago. He mentioned that the show beagles don't bark.

 

[Equuisize]

I agree with Kathi, find a beagle out of show stock ..... they've magically

done away with the baying, in my experience.

Baying is fine if you live a distance from your neighbors but not so good

if you live with close by neighbors. It's kind of a cool sound, otherwise.

We had beagles for years. They are, my now, grown son's favorite, Snoopy dog.

He still has one.

Our first female was out of field stock. She had 'the nose' that went to the

ground and off she'd go (she did outgrow it as she aged) and the bay.

When I had her bred I bred her into show stock, of a local kennel, who's

male had won at Madison Square Garden. Only two of the babies had a

half hearted bay.

I kept the PoL and bred her back into show stock - no bays, at all.

Bought my male out of show stock and never had any bays.

They do have a hound smell...but they are so small they are easy

to bathe.

They are garbage guts and will eat near anything so weight can be an issue.

But their engaging personalities more than make up for any other problems.

 

[drivin*me*buggy]

Hey all! Thanks for sharing your experiences

I am thinking I want a do all beagle LOL....the show side looks, rabbit chasing instincts to some extent- and a good trainable mind to work on obedience

I will keep you posted on my search.....if anyone knows of any good breeders let me know- I am in upstate NY.